Woman allegedly records own arrest, gets accused of wiretapping

Massachusetts wiretapping law prohibits secretly recording police.

A Massachusetts woman faces charges of allegedly using a hidden mobile phone to audio-record her own suspicion-of-disorderly-conduct arrest.

Karen Dziewit, 24 of Chicopee, was allegedly "loud and belligerent" and disturbing her building's tenants early Sunday when police arrested her, according to local media outlet Mass Live. When police inventoried her purse, they said they found a mobile phone secretly recording the incident, allegedly in violation of state wiretapping regulations. Springfield police told Mass Live that the woman slipped the phone in her purse and activated the recording feature before the arrest.

Under Massachusetts law, people may record police officers in public places, but only if the officers are aware that a recording is taking place, according to case law.

In 2011, a federal appeals court ruled that a Boston woman openly filming police activity had her constitutional rights violated when she was arrested for filming an arrest of somebody else. The appeals court noted that no filming was done in secret, because the officers saw that the arrest was being recorded.

Dziewit is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

David Kravets
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